Josh Koscheck Injury Scraps Planned UFC 163 Showdown with Demian Maia

UFC officials announced the news on Friday, revealing that the
Aug. 3 show will now move forward with 12 fights instead of 13. The
event takes place at the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and
is headlined by a featherweight title confrontation between
reigning champion Jose Aldo and
challenger Chan Sung
Jung. The pay-per-view portion of the card will also see
Lyoto
Machida collide with Phil Davis in
a pivotal light heavyweight pairing.

The nature of Koscheck’s injury was not disclosed, and it is
unknown if the wrestler’s bout with Maia will be booked for a later
event. The 35-year-old challenged Georges St.
Pierre for the UFC welterweight title in 2010, dropping a
one-sided unanimous decision to “Rush” at UFC 124. Though Koscheck
rebounded with a pair of wins over Matt Hughes
and Mike
Pierce, the “TUF 1” alum suffered consecutive defeats in his
last two fights, relinquishing a split decision to Johny
Hendricks before sustaining a technical knockout at the hands
of Robbie
Lawler this past February.

Maia, meanwhile, has won three straight fights since dropping to
170 pounds last year, stopping Dong Hyun
Kim and Rick Story
before dominating Jon Fitch five
months ago en route to a unanimous decision win over the former
title challenger at UFC 156. Known for his superior Brazilian
jiu-jitsu, Maia owns 50 percent of his victories by way of
submission and has been stopped just once in nearly 12 years as a
pro.